Environmental scientists are demanding tougher regulation of airborne pollutants from the Port Pirie lead smelter in South Australia.

Head researcher Professor Mark Taylor of Macquarie University previously has studied the danger of lead particles coating playground equipment in the regional city, where there long has been a program monitoring children's blood-lead levels.

He is critical of the licence arrangements for Nyrstar's lead smelter, saying they fail to stop massive emissions of the toxic pollutants such as arsenic, cadmium and sulfur dioxide.

"[Those] running the smelting operations ... have been granted a licence to pollute which would not be acceptable elsewhere in the state," he said.

Professor Taylor says the focus on monitoring atmospheric lead at Port Pirie means far less attention is being given to other toxins.

"Perhaps more importantly what has been missed for a long time is that the other toxic elements of arsenic and cadmium are also extremely high," he said.

"There's no safe level for arsenic and also cadmium is known to cause other adverse health problems in the kidneys and skeletal system as well as neurological damage. Arsenic as we know is a cancerous substance it causes skin legions it causes respiratory dysfunction in children and also in adults.

"We know what the effects of sulfur dioxide are, that's why they're trying to lower it in ... fuels for example."

'Profits being given priority over health'

Professor Taylor says industry profitability is being put ahead of enforcing the use of technologies which could capture more pollutants.

I think it's the Government's responsibility to protect those who cannot protect themselves.

Professor Mark Taylor

"Those emissions collectively they provide a toxic suite of contaminants in the environment [and] only some of them are regulated for," he said.

"The economic interests are primary over the health and environment interests."

He says the smelter stack is the primary source of arsenic, cadmium, lead and sulfur dioxide at Port Pirie and the SA Government should be doing more to enforce high environmental standards.

"My reason for saying that is not because I'm against the corporation, but it's because I think it's the Government's responsibility to protect those who cannot protect themselves," he said.

Professor Taylor says Port Pirie's children have to live where their parents have been able to get work.

His team's latest examination of pollutants and health risks in the mining and smelting towns of Port Pirie and Mount Isa in Queensland have just been published in the journal Aeolian Research.

The Environment Protection Authority has indicated to the ABC that it does not plan to respond to Professor Taylor's latest comments.

Professor Taylor also thinks SA Health could be more transparent about blood-lead readings taken from children at Port Pirie.

He says the highest blood-lead levels found should be outlined in its annual data but SA Health only gives a snapshot of the most recent readings, which are not always the highest levels found.

"If a child turns up in March and their blood-lead level is 20 and by November they had another test and that level may be 8, the figure 8 goes into the annual report and it's the annual report which is used to sort of measure the performance of the smelter against the goal of getting kids below 10," he said.

SA Health says it is confident the methods it uses give an accurate analysis of blood lead-level trends.